Media Releases

Survey assesses students' health risk behaviors

The 2007 South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report was released today to the South Dakota Board of Education. The report presents data from the South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered in 2007. Students in grades 9-12 at randomly selected public, private and Bureau of Indian Education schools participated in the survey.
“We hope school and community leaders will use this information to do program planning and implementation that will improve the health of their students,” said April Hodges, who is with the Department of Education’s Coordinated School Health Program.
Administered every other year, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a questionnaire that assesses the six priority health-risk behaviors that result in the greatest amount of morbidity, mortality and social problems among youth. These six priority health-risk behaviors include: injuries; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that result in HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy; poor dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity.
Significant statistics identified in the report include the following:
•24 percent of students, during the past 30 days, rode in a vehicle with a driver who had been drinking alcohol (down from 32 percent in 2005)
•13 percent of students, during the past 30 days, drove a vehicle when they had been drinking alcohol (down from 17 percent in 2005)
•18 percent seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year (down from 19 percent in 2005)
•55 percent have tried cigarettes (down from 61 percent in 2005)
•34 percent have used marijuana (down from 37 percent in 2005)
•5 percent have used methamphetamines (down from 7 percent in 2005)
•46 percent have had sexual intercourse (up from 44 percent in 2005)
•on an average school day, 24 percent watched TV for three or more hours (no significant change from 2005)
•16 percent ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day during the past seven days (no significant change from 2005)
•28 percent drank a can, bottle or glass of soda or pop one or more times per day during the past seven days (new question)
The South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the South Dakota Departments of Education, Health and Human Services.